Why create open source educational technology?
Why take this decision? What advantages can it bring to your business?
Why create open source educational technology?
Why take this decision? What advantages can it bring to your business?
Although it is called "free", every software is expensive to build and maintain. So why consider making your software open source?
What is the fundamental value proposition of your offer?
Which features represent a unique and meaningful value for your users? You could identify the fundamental value proposition and keep it proprietary, making everything else open source. Opening to others your "generic" technologies can give you the opportunity to look at well-made jobs that can give you useful ideas to improve your work and your offer.
However, many software features may not directly represent your fundamental value proposition, but may still provide a competitive advantage that should not be inadvertently blown to the wind.
The decision to make these components open becomes therefore a calculated assessment that weighs the pros and cons: will the proposal of fundamental value be enriched by allowing everyone to contribute to the validation of the "general" features? Do these benefits weigh more than the risks of losing part of the competitive advantage?
And so? It is an essentially complex process of assessing the impact and the feasibility of each action. Surely, we all benefit from the open sharing of knowledge and tools, but it is always necessary to evaluate, case by case, when open source is the right thing to do.